Chief Audu Ogbeh who is the minister of agriculture has declared that Nigeria will soon start exporting high-quality rice to the rest of the world.
The Punch reports that the minister said this on Friday, November 11 following a tour of rice farms in Auyo local government area of Jigawa state.
Ogbeh was in the company of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the governors of Kebbi and Jigawa state.
Ogbeh was in the company of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the governors of Kebbi and Jigawa, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and Mohammed Badaru Abubakar.
He said: “When we told Nigerians about two months ago that in another one year, there will be no need for a grain of rice to be imported, some people did not believe us. But in Auyo, Jigawa state, you can see massive rice fields that can produce between 1.2 million metric tons and 1.5 million metric tons of rice.
“This is just one out of the 27 local government areas in Jigawa state. As such, every Nigerian will see season fresh rice to eat, not rice stored for seven years in silos abroad or in foreign countries.
“There is no better way of developing our rural people. There is no need for us to continue to import expired rice from other countries. When we initiated the programme, it was greeted with criticism. As you can see today, our farmers will be heroes and that is the change mantra the Buhari-led administration is determined to achieve.
“The governors are taking the lead by encouraging rice farmers in their respective states to embrace the cultivation and production of rice in commercial quantities. Nigeria will soon become a major rice exporter.”
The Jigawa governor said that through farmers’ clusters training programme, his state plans to produce 1.5 to five million metric tons of rice within the next five years
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